Magic escape with 104-96 win

Most nights, the final figures will at least give one a pretty good idea of where the game was won or lost.

Yesterday's 104-96 defeat to the Orlando Magic was the exception and Chris Bosh was stumped by a final score that didn't seem to add up to the individual scoring stats.

The Raptors outshot the Magic 44% to 41% from the field. Sure, they made three fewer threes, but they attempted only 16 to the 32 heaves the Magic threw up.

Points in the paint was a decisive win for the Raptors while second-chance points was pretty much a wash. Even the rebounding was all but even with the Magic pulling down three more boards than the Raps' 43.

DID IT, AGAIN

But for the second time in three weeks, the Magic left Toronto with a win.

"Just looking at the scoresheet, I really don't know what to say," Bosh said. "We gave up some second chances, but they didn't have that many second-chance points, which is a mystery. I guess if we tighten up the rebounding and knock down a few more shots, it could have been a different game."

Bosh uttered those last words with about as much conviction as a shopping mall Santa on Dec. 24.

"Every time we play a game, I like to see where we won or lost the game and it is kind of stifling to look at that and not know where we lost the game," Bosh said.

Even Vince Carter, who normally returns to this building and sticks it in the faces of the booing masses, didn't really light things up, although his 24 points, 18 of them in the second half, did play a key role.

If there was one number on the scoresheet that stuck out it was the 19 points by J.J. Redick coming off the Orlando bench. Redick, who torched the Raptors as a fill-in starter for Carter in the Magic's first visit here this season with 27, went 4-of-7 from three-point range to keep the Magic in the game with both Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis on the bench with foul trouble.

Bosh, with 22 points, was Toronto's leading scorer but had his hands full all afternoon tangling with Howard under the basket.

"Dwight made it real tough for Chris," Raps head coach Jay Triano said. "He played him early, before he could catch the ball and they showed him a lot of bodies. I thought they did a nice job on Andrea (Bargnani) as well, and even crowding (Hedo) Turkoglu as much as he had the ball."

Combined Toronto's big three settled for 45 points, not a bad number, but well below the average for this season.

Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy praised his team's effort defensively for both yesterday's game and a road game Friday in Boston.

"I think we're really battling hard defensively," Van Gundy said. "We went into Boston, they were No. 1 in the league in field goal percentage and we held them in the low 30s. We come in today and this team is averaging 107 a game and give them 28 in the first quarter and then still end up holding them below 100."